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Kitchener's Sarah Pavan loses beach volleyball quarterfinal at Tokyo Games

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KITCHENER -

Kitchener's Sarah Pavan was knocked out of medal contention at the Tokyo Games on Tuesday, losing her quarterfinal match in beach volleyball.

Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes lost in three sets to Australia's Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy in Tuesday's event.

Teammates Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson also lost to Latvia's Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka.

Pavan might not be bringing home a medal this year, but she's bringing a lot of joy to her hometown fans.

"I told her after the match, I couldn't be more proud of her if she won a medal than I am right now," Sarah's father, Paul Pavan, said. "The way they conducted themselves, the way they performed, they played at such a high, high level. They just happened to play a really good team (Tuesday) that they knew was going to be tough."

Paul coached Sarah when she was playing at Forest Heights Collegiate. He said she's been training for Tokyo for the past five years. This was her second Olympic Games.

"I coached her from 10 to 18 so when she started until she left, I coached her here," Paul said. "We never dreamed when you go into this and she was 10-years-old and started playing club, we never dreamed that our daughter is going to be a two-time Olympian.”

Paul said his daughter grew up in a family that loved sport, inspiring her from a young age.

In 2019, Pavan and Humana-Paredes became Canada's first ever world champions in beach volleyball.

"Sarah has had a storybook career right from the club, high school and Nebraska. They won a national championship, she was a player of the year,” Paul said.

Her career and Olympic journey now inspiring young athletes closer to home.

"It was just really amazing to see her on such a big stage and her being up there kind of makes it seem more possible for kids to work towards that," said beach volleyball player Delaney Watson.

Pavan is now preparing to make the journey back home from Tokyo.

"I think the plan is to probably continue and move on and try again in three years I hope," Paul said.

With files from The Canadian Press

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